Green Area Ratio Overview

What is GAR?

The Green Area Ratio is an environmental sustainability zoning regulation that sets standards for landscape and site design to help reduce stormwater runoff, improve air quality, and keep the city cooler.

On November 17, 2017, DOEE published the updated Green Area Ratio Guidebook, which modernizes the 2015 GAR Guidebook to conform to the 2016 Zoning Regulations. This revision also clarifies issues that stakeholders and DOEE noted in the previous version. The revisions provide guidance for GAR permitting, GAR review and any requirements from the Zoning Regulations of 2016 in Title 11 of the DCMR, Subtitle C; revises the list of invasive plant species; clarifies discrepancies with the Department’s stormwater regulations; updates landscape element design standards; updates the GAR Score Sheet to allow automated native bonus calculations; provides a non-inclusive GAR plant list; and further defines multiple lot submittal requirements as well as lots with multiple zones and some historic structures. The updated copy is available under GAR Guidebook.

Submit Green Area Ratio Plan Information Online

Beginning December 1, 2017, minor Green Area Ratio projects (less than 5,000 square feet of disturbance and no stormwater management review required) may now be reviewed through ProjectDox alongside minor sediment and erosion control reviews.